Copenhagen, Denmark

To paraphrase one of Carlsberg's taglines, Copenhagen is ‘probably the best city in the world’. As a short-break there are more than enough attractions to fill your time or, stay for a week if you want to really experience the city. It’s a great, compact, little city, ideal for exploration on foot or two wheels. The city is built for bicycles, they are everywhere. Apparently, 50% of all citizens commute by bike every day and there are more bikes than inhabitants.Copenhagen is rich and varied in architecture with plenty of castles and palaces as a result of its 1000 years of royal history. There are many historic streets, monuments, museums, art galleries and plenty of gardens in which to wander and laze. It is famous for its design and it even has a Design museum.My favourite place was the picturesque Nyhavn with its mix of colourful houses and constant movement of boats and people – a great place to sit and watch the world go by!Of course, food and drink are a joy. Copenhagen is home to Scand-inavia’s largest collection of Michelin stars including the famous Noma two Michelin star restaurant and this has certainly had an influence on raising the quality of food in many restaurants.Denmark is renowned for the high standards of living and Copenha-gen is no exception. It is clean, beautiful, full of culture, has excellent shopping, transport links and accommodation and the people are very friendly. However, it is a little on the expensive side. Denmark is in the EU but it's not in Euroland. It still uses the kronor currency. According to surveys, Denmark is home to the happiest people in the world.

Canal Tour

From the water is one of the best ways to see the city. Our boat from Nyhavn harbour passed the Little Mermaid, beautiful canals of the alternative community Christianshavn, the 17th-century dock area with its pastel-coloured merchants' houses, the Royal Danish Play-house and the Opera House and Christiansborg Palace, home to the Danish Parliament, Prime Minister's Office and Supreme Court.

Nyhavn harbour

The picturesque, interesting canal area is very popular and packed with restaurants, cafés, boats and people – it’s very relaxing to stroll or just sit in a café and watch the people and activity. (Note that drinks in the cafes are expensive)

Little Mermaid

The statue of the Little Mermaid has become one of the most famous of Copenha-gen’s attractions and one of the most photographed ladies in the World! The bronze sculpture by Edvard Eriksen, unveiled in August 1913, is based on the mermaid of the Hans Christian Andersen story. It was smaller than I expected but maybe I should have guessed by the name!

Rosenborg Palace

The Palace is situated at the end of the popular King's Garden. Built in 1606-1634 by King Christian IV as a royal pleasure retreat outside of the closed city, it’s now a museum with objects related to the Danish monarchs during the last 400 years. In the basement there’s a display of the Royal Regalia and state jewellery belonging to the present Queen.

The Round Tower

The Round Tower was built as an observatory in 1642 under Christian IV. The 209-metre-long winding passage leads to the platform and the Obser-vatory at the top of the tower, from which there are magnificent views over the old town, house roofs and church towers.

Church of Our Lady Cathedral

The Church of Our Lady was built in 1829. During the last 800 years a church has been situated on this spot and several royal couples have been married here, Crown-Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik being the latest ones in May 2004.

Marble Church

The neo-baroque Marble Church, consecrated in 1894 has a copper green dome which measures more than 30m in diameter. It was modelled on the dome of St Peter's in Rome.

Gardens

Copenhagen has many public parks and gardens that are wonderful places to relax, go for a stroll, have a picnic or simply, watch the wildlife, as I did. This photo was taken in Orstedsparken Park.

Carlsberg

Founded in 1647 by J. C. Jacobsen it was named after his son, Carl and the hill on which it was built. Carl Jacobsen started his own brewery alongside his father’s in 1991 and named it The New Carlsberg but the two breweries merged in 1906. Carl provided a couple of other landmarks - he commissioned the Little Mermaid statue and founded the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, one of Denmark's museums.The Carlsberg Breweries and Visitor Centre are a short bus ride away from the centre. Upon arrival you see the imposing Elephant Gate comprising four life size elephants which was inspired by Bernini’s obelisk-carrying elephant in the Minerva Square in Rome. The ele-phant is a symbol of loyalty and strength and characterises Carl Jacobsen’s Latin motto "Laboremus pro patria" - We work for our country.Within the breweries is a museum that contains the world’s largest unopened beer bottle collection totalling16,384 bottles. You can see beer being made in the Jacobson Brewhouse and the treat at the end is to sample some of the brewer's famous beers.

Our Hotel

We stayed in Copenhagen’s historic Admiral Hotel, a converted grain-drying warehouse, originally built in 1787. It is full of character with a maritime atmosphere within the massive wooden beams and brick arches. It is centrally located with Nyhavn, Amalienborg Palace and The Little Mermaid all within easy walking distance.

Tips

Getting Downtown - Copenhagen Airport is 8km (5 miles) southeast of Copenhagen city centre. The driverless train or metro, taking less than 15 minutes, is the quickest and easiest way to get Downtown. The metro is the fastest way of getting to Copenhagen City or Frederiksberg. However, if you want to go to Copenhagen Central Station or the western part of Copenhagen City, you are better off taking the train.If you want to go to a few museums or galleries and use the public transport, buy a 24-hour or 72-hour CPHCard. It gives you free entry to 60 museums, free transport on the bus, train or metro and discounts on many other attractions.Copenhagen is just half an hour from the Swedish city of Malmo, and the journey there is stunning. For a day out take a train, hire a car or join a tour and head across the huge Oresund Bridge that joins Denmark and Sweden. At 7,845 metres, it’s one of the longest bridges in Europe.

On my List for my Next Trip

•Bus tour or Hop On Hop Off bus – always a good way to see a city and its best attractions.•Amalienborg Palace – The Royal’s winter residence in the city centre•The Guinness World Records Museum illustrates some of the world records, with a statue of the world’s tallest man at the doorway to welcome you in. •National Museum•National Gallery •Skuespilhuset theatre•Tivoli Gardens – Amusement park in the heart of Copenhagen (not a lover but interested to see it at night).•Stroget – One of Europe’s longest pedestrian streets for shoppers at 1km, with a variety of shops, many ‘squares’ and open spaces, canal side bars and restaurants. Shopping is never on the top of list!•Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, north of Copenhagen. One of northern Europe’s most important Renaissance castles, known from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.Made using Xara Web Designer

MY TRIP TO COPENHAGEN

Copenhagen, Denmark

To paraphrase one of Carlsberg's taglines, Copenhagen is ‘probablythe best city in the world’. As a short-break there are more than enough attrac-tions to fill your time or, stay for a week if you want to really experience the city. It’s a great, com-pact, little city, ideal for exploration on foot or two wheels. The city is built for bicycles, they are everywhere. Apparently, 50% of all citizens commute by bike every day and there are more bikes than inhabitants.Copenhagen is rich and varied in architecture with plenty of castles and palaces as a result of its 1000 years of royal history. There are many historic streets, monuments, museums, art galleries and plenty of gardens in which to wander and laze. It is famous for its design and it even has a Design museum.My favourite place was the picturesque Nyhavn with its mix of colour-ful houses and constant movement of boats and people – a great place to sit and watch the world go by!Of course, food and drink are a joy. Copenhagen is home to Scandinavia’s largest collection of Mich-elin stars including the famous Noma two Mich-elin star restaurant and this has certainly had an influence on raising the quality of food in many restaurants.Denmark is renowned for the high standards of living and Copenhagen is no exception. It is clean, beautiful, full of culture, has excellent shop-ping, transport links and accommodation and the people are very friendly. However, it is a little on the expensive side. Denmark is in the EU but it's not in Euroland. It still uses the kronor currency. According to surveys, Denmark is home to the happiest people in the world.

Canal Tour

From the water is one of the best ways to see the city. Our boat from Nyhavn harbour passed the Little Mermaid, beau-tiful canals of the altern-ative community Christianshavn, the 17th-century dock area with its pastel-coloured merchants' houses, the Royal Danish Playhouse and the Opera House and Christiansborg Palace, home to the Danish Parliament, Prime Minister's Office and Supreme Court.

Nyhavn harbour

The picturesque, interesting canal area is very popular and packed with restaurants, cafés, boats and people – it’s very relaxing to stroll or just sit in a café and watch the people and activity. (Note that drinks in the cafes are expensive)

Little Mermaid

The statue of the Little Mermaid has be-come one of the most famous of Copen-hagen’s attractions and one of the most photographed ladies in the World! The bronze sculpture by Edvard Eriksen, un-veiled in August 1913, is based on the mermaid of the Hans Christian Andersen story. It was smaller than I expected but maybe I should have guessed by the name!

Rosenborg Palace

The Palace is situated at the end of the popular King's Garden. Built in 1606-1634 by King Christian IV as a royal pleasure retreat outside of the closed city, it’s now a museum with objects related to the Danish monarchs during the last 400 years. In the basement there’s a display of the Royal Regalia and state jewellery belonging to the present Queen.

The Round Tower

The Round Tower was built as an observatory in 1642 under Christian IV. The 209-metre-long winding passage leads to the plat-form and the Observatory at the top of the tower, from which there are mag-nificent views over the old town, house roofs and church towers.

Church of Our Lady Cathedral

The Church of Our Lady was built in 1829. During the last 800 years a church has been situated on this spot and several royal couples have been married here, Crown-Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik being the latest ones in May 2004.

Marble Church

The neo-baroque Marble Church, consecrated in 1894 has a copper green dome which measures more than 30m in diameter. It was mod-elled on the dome of St Peter's in Rome.

Gardens

Copenhagen has many public parks and gardens that are wonderful places to relax, go for a stroll, have a picnic or simply, watch the wildlife, as I did. This photo was taken in Orstedsparken Park.

Carlsberg

Founded in 1647 by J. C. Jacobsen it was named after his son, Carl and the hill on which it was built. Carl Jacobsen started his own brewery alongside his father’s in 1991 and named it The New Carls-berg but the two breweries merged in 1906. Carl provided a couple of other landmarks - he commissioned the Little Mermaid statue and founded the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, one of Denmark's museums.The Carlsberg Breweries and Visitor Centre are a short bus ride away from the centre. Upon arrival you see the imposing Ele-phant Gate comprising four life size elephants which was inspired by Bernini’s obelisk-carrying elephant in the Minerva Square in Rome. The elephant is a symbol of loyalty and strength and characterises Carl Jacobsen’s Latin motto "Laboremus pro patria" - We work for our country.Within the breweries is a museum that contains the world’s largest unopened beer bottle collection totalling16,384 bottles. You can see beer being made in the Jacobson Brewhouse and the treat at the end is to sample some of the brewer's famous beers.

Our Hotel

We stayed in Copenha-gen’s historic Admiral Hotel,a converted grain-drying warehouse, origin-ally built in 1787. It is full of character with a mari-time atmosphere within the massive wooden beams and brick arches. It is centrally located with Nyhavn, Amalienborg Palace and The Little Mermaid all within easy walking distance.

Tips

Getting Downtown - Copenhagen Airport is 8km (5 miles) southeast of Copenhagen city centre. The driverless train or metro, taking less than 15 minutes, is the quickest and easiest way to get Downtown. The metro is the fastest way of getting to Copenhagen City or Frederiks-berg. However, if you want to go to Copenhagen Central Station or the western part of Copenhagen City, you are better off taking the train.If you want to go to a few museums or galleries and use the public transport, buy a 24-hour or 72-hour CPHCard. It gives you free entry to 60 museums, free transport on the bus, train or metro and discounts on many other attractions.Copenhagen is just half an hour from the Swedish city of Malmo, and the journey there is stunning. For a day out take a train, hire a car or join a tour and head across the huge Oresund Bridge that joins Den-mark and Sweden. At 7,845 metres, it’s one of the longest bridges in Europe.

On my List for my Next Trip

•Bus tour or Hop On Hop Off bus – always a good way to see a city and its best attractions.•Amalienborg Palace – The Royal’s winter residence in the city centre•The Guinness World Records Museum illustrates some of the world records, with a statue of the world’s tallest man at the doorway to welcome you in. •National Museum•National Gallery •Skuespilhuset theatre•Tivoli Gardens – Amusement park in the heart of Copenhagen (not a lover but interested to see it at night).•Stroget – One of Europe’s longest pedestrian streets for shoppers at 1km, with a variety of shops, many ‘squares’ and open spaces, canal side bars and restaurants. Shopping is never on the top of list!•Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, north of Copenhagen. One of north-ern Europe’s most important Renaissance castles, known from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.Made using Xara Web Designer